Rishabh Pant seeks options to buy a new home, Irfan Pathan provides an interesting suggestion
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, on Thursday, took to Twitter to seek suggestions on buying a new home.
He wrote (in Hindi) that ever since he returned from Australia, his family has been after him to buy a new house. Asking whether Gurgaon would be a good choice, he requested Twitter users for help.
There were some rather intriguing replies, but the best of the lot possibly came from former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan:
Twitter comes up with options galore for Rishabh Pant’s new house
Here are some choices Twitter users offered to the 23-year-old wicket-keeper batsman for his new house:
Will Rishabh Pant play as a wicketkeeper-batsman against England?
Despite his exploits with the bat in Australia, where he scored 97 at the SCG and a match-winning 89 at the Gabba, question marks remain over Rishabh Pant’s wicketkeeping ability.
He dropped a few chances behind the stumps, which luckily did not cost India at the end of the day. Keeping wickets is going to be a much bigger responsibility in India, especially as the gloveman will have to be alert against the slow bowlers on spinning tracks.
Wriddhiman Saha, India’s best wicket-keeping option, thus comes into the picture. Interestingly, about his constant comparisons with Rishabh Pant, Saha recently stated that wicket-keeping is a specialised job and must remain so.
Bringing in Saha, however, weakens the batting lineup, as he is nowhere as good as Rishabh Pant with the bat. Another suggestion doing the rounds is to play the Pant as a pure batsman. That too is viewed by some experts as a compromise option, as India might have to sacrifice a bowling spot.
Finding a middle ground to the keeping conundrum could prove to be tricky for India.
The four-Test series between India and England will kick off on February 5 in Chennai. The second Test will also be played at the same venue, while the third and fourth Tests will be in Ahmedabad.